Hyundai’s H-Mex exoskeleton

With Hyundai hard at work on exoskeletons like the H-Mex, an iron Man suit can’t be too far away.

The H-Mex is an exoskeleton than anyone can use, provided you’re between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall. The unit was demoed to journalists at a private event in Las Vegas, and those who tried it came away very impressed.

Engadget and Wired both got their hands (and their feet) on the device, and report that it’s very easy to get into, but a little hard to start using. As Engadget’s Roberto Baldwin explains, “It turns out, not using your own legs to walk isn’t as easy as you might think because it goes against an entire lifetime of training.”

From what we can make out, the exoskeleton doesn’t exactly amplify the power of your movement, as you’d expect an Iron Man suit to do. Instead, users are outfitted with crutches (for the sake of balance) and movement is controlled via buttons.

Reporters did admit that lifting heavy loads was much easier and with the exoskeleton, however.

Hyundai has no plans of rushing the H-Mex into production yet. The suit is meant to help paraplegic patients walk, and not for combat oriented superpowers. The device will probably receive medical certification in 2018 and it won’t be until 2019 or 2020 that we’ll even see demo units.

Hyundai also hopes that the exorbitant, but yet unknown, price tag of the unit will come down in the future.